What was 2G scam? A storm in a tea cup or a political conspiracy against UPA Govt??

Nagpur News

3 months ago

New Delhi: Till the 2G ‘scam’ came to the fore giving chance for opposition to begin slaying Manmohan Singh’s ‘clean image’, it was ironically Dr. Singh’s penchant of keeping everything transparent and above board that gave his political enemies the opening to begin their assault.

Ministries of UPA were at loggerheads with each other and CBI seemed to be operating on a ‘mandate’ of its own!

And in hindsight it does seem that the CAG was also guilty of throwing up fanciful figures of ‘notional losses’ suffered by the nation in the allocation.

Just look at the chronology of events of the ‘unearthing’ of the alleged 2G ‘Scam’ and you will wonder who was in power then?

(Remember in this UPA Govt. the DMK party of Tamil Nadu was an important constituent and its young politician Raja was in charge of the important Telecom portfolio. Raja was considered a dear protege of DMK stalwart Karunanidhi.)

May 2007: A Raja takes over as telecom minister.

Aug 2007: Process of allotment of 2G spectrum for telecom along with Universal Access Service Licences initiated by the Department of Telecommunications.Telecom ministry fixes October 1, 2007 as deadline for receiving application for UASL licences.

Jan 10, 2008: DoT decides to issue licences on first-come-first-served basis, preponing the cut-off date to September 25, from October 1, 2007. Later on the same day, DoT posted an announcement on its website saying those who apply between 3.30 and 4.30 pm would be issued licences in accordance with the said policy. (According to Finance Minister of present day NDA govt. Jaitley, the policy was later “arbitrarily changed” to First Come First Pay.)

2008: Swan Telecom, Unitech and Tata Teleservices sell off a part of their stakes at much higher rates to Etisalat, Telenor and DoCoMo respectively.

May 4, 2009: An NGO Telecom Watchdog files complaint to the Central Vigilance Commission on the illegalities in the spectrum allocation to Loop Telecom.

May 19, 2009: Another complaint filed to the CVC by one Arun Agarwal, highlighting grant of spectrum to Swan Telecom at throwaway prices.

2009: CVC directs CBI to investigate the irregularities in allocation of the 2G spectrum.

July 1, 2009: Delhi high court holds advancing of cut-off date as illegal on a petition by telecom company S-Tel.

Oct 21, 2009: CBI registers an FIR against “unknown officers of DoT and unknown private persons/ companies under various provisions of IPC and Prevention of Corruption Act.

Oct 22, 2009: CBI raids DoT offices.

Mar 31, 2010: CAG says there were large scale irregularities in the spectrum allocation.

May, 2010: NGO Centre for Public Interest litigation moves Delhi high court seeking probe into the scam by CBI.

May 25, 2010: Delhi HC dismisses the petition.

Aug 2010: Appeal filed in the SC against the HC order.

Aug 18, 2010: HC refuses to direct the prime minister to decide on a complaint by Janata Party chief Swamy seeking sanction to prosecute Raja for his involvement in the 2G scam.

December 21, 2017 In court today the judge today took just a few minutes to read out the operative part of his judgement clearing all accused of charges : “I have no hesitation in holding that the prosecution has miserably failed to prove the charges and all the accused are acquitted of the charges.”

The Verdict a further sign that political alignments changing?

Last month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited M Karunanidhi at his home in Chennai in a surprise move. The timing was crucial. Political parties have been speculating whether the house call was intended to signal that the DMK is not a pariah for the BJP, despite his daughter being one of the prime accused in 2G.

Remember, ever since Jaylalitha’s death, BJP has been exploring avenues to expand its slim presence in Tamil Nadu.